Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism - (Contending Modernities) by Atalia Omer & Joshua Lupo

Book Synopsis

Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism examines the tenacious, lingering impact of European colonial ideology on religion and politics around the world.

Even though the formal structures of colonialism have crumbled, with a few notable exceptions, European colonial ideology continues to operate across the globe, resulting in limited, nationalistic conceptualizations of religion and politics. Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism shows convincingly that not only has colonialism had a devastating impact on the colonized, but its reach has turned inward to erode the colonizer's own social and political systems.

By examining the colonial violence constitutive of liberal political ideology, the continued oppression of Muslims in Europe in the name of security, and the way neoliberal economics bends religious hermeneutics to its will, the authors of Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism call attention to the threats that face our world today. They also point to potential sites of hope--for example, the work of a priest in the Balkans who seeks to build solidarity across religious differences; groups in Africa who are constructing decolonial religious imaginaries; and the Islamo-futurism of Dune, which haltingly imagines a form of modernity beyond the West.

Contributors: Atalia Omer, Joshua Lupo, Santiago Slabodsky, Nadia Fadil, S. Sayyid, Luca Mavelli, Edmund Frettingham, Cecelia Lynch, Slavica Jakelic, and Gil Anidjar

Review Quotes

"Religion, Modernity, and the Global Afterlives of Colonialism contains a fine set of essays that together raise critical questions about what scholars are doing when we attempt to 'decolonize' a field of study and, relatedly, our notions of political agency and community. These scholars collectively argue that decolonizing is necessary, difficult, and brave work." --Shannon F. Dunn, professor and chair of the Religious Studies Department, Gonzaga University

About the Author

Atalia Omer is professor of religion, conflict, and peace studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of Decolonizing Religion and Peacebuilding and co-editor of Religion, Populism, and Modernity.

Joshua Lupo is the assistant director of the Contending Modernities research initiative at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is the co-editor of Religion, Populism, and Modernity.